The dawn of election day

Today is election day, and as with every poll, it allows voters the chance to enact real change. The last few years have certainly brought us all food for thought. What will impact the way you vote today? Will it be the party or person who most impressed you when it came to dealing with the challenges of Covid; will it be the ones who appear to have the policies or ideas for tackling the ever rising costs of living we are all facing; or will you just vote the way you’ve always done simply to keep ‘them‘uns’ out? The choice is yours alone.

At this stage, there is still much to play for. No doubt, when you go to your polling station today there will be activists from a variety of parties outside the building, hoping to influence where you put that all important first preference vote, but come 10pm, and it’s all over.

All the polls predicting the outcome of this election have pointed to a sea change at the top, as it’s likely we will see a Sinn Féin First Minister, with Michelle O’Neill tipped to take the job.

The latest LucidTalk poll has Sinn Féin taking 26 per-cent of the overall vote, and while that would be enough to secure them the First Minister post, it is still a drop of 1.9 per-cent on their 2017 poll.

The real battle today lies in the unionist camp. Predictions have the DUP currently sitting on 20 per-cent – a significant drop of 8.1 per-cent from their 2017 result. Much of this ground has been lost to the TUV, who are predicted to increase their vote by 6.4 per-cent, and in all likelihood, could return two MLAs to the chamber. One poll even suggests the DUP will drop to 18.2 per-cent; a tally it predicts would be matched by the Alliance.

The next 24 hours could prove seismic for the North. The real challenge will begin after the counting is done. Then, it’s up to all our politicians to accept the outcome and find a way to make it work.

For some, it may be a bitter pill to swallow – but that’s just how democracy works.